Mr Brophy, a four-decade veteran newspaperman best known for being managing director of The Sunday World, is backed by an unknown consortium of private investors.

Mr Brophy previously led INM's publishing, digital and printing operations in Northern Ireland and also managed the re-structuring of the Belfast Telegraph newspaper.

He is currently chairman of Hume Brophy, a European communications company founded by his nephew Eoin Brophy and John Hume, the son of the famous Derry politician. Michael Brophy did not return calls on Friday.

Mr Brophy's son Karl was previously director of Corporate Affairs and Content Development at INM, the publisher of the Sunday Independent.

The Michael Brophy group is one of three potential bidders for The Sunday Business Post which must submit formal proposals to examiner Grant Thornton by the end of next week. The paper is expected to sell around the €1.5m mark. Any new owner is likely to implement a redundancy programme as well as invest more in the paper.

The other parties interested are a group led by Frank Cronin, the former chief executive of Newstalk, and a consortium led by Key Capital. Key Capital has been linked to Paul Cooke, the former managing director of Independent Star Limited – the publisher of the Irish Daily Star. The Crosbie family, the previous owners of the Post, pulled out of the running two weeks ago.